Seat which converts into a bed

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a seat which can be converted into a bed wherein the back of the seat ( 4 ) can be pivoted onto the same level as the seating surface ( 2 ) by means of arms ( 3 ), said arms ( 3 ) being connected on one end to the seat frame ( 1 ) and on the other end to the back of the seat ( 4 ). Said seating surface ( 2 ) is covered with a removable upholstery fabric ( 15 ) when the furniture item is in a seating position. The upholstery fabric is joined to the front under surface of the seat frame ( 1 ) on one side and is joined on the other side to the underside of the back of the seat ( 4 ). A double positioning drill ( 17 ) is arranged underneath the upholstery fabric ( 15 ), extending exclusively along the seating surface which is preferably joined to padding, and is connected thereto on the front end of the seating surface ( 2 ). As a result, a simple way of placing the drill is obtained.

[0001] The invention relates to seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed, where its back rest can be swung into the plane of the seating surface with the aid of linkages whereby the linkages at one end have a pivot joint to the seat frame and, at the other end, to the back rest.

[0002] For the protection of upholstery cover material on known furniture of this type, a drill material is placed on the seating surface after conversion into the seating position, said drill material being wound onto a self-retracting roller located behind the furniture when it is in the seating position.

[0003] It is the object of the invention to provide a simpler way of placing the drill material, which is achieved by having the seating surface of the piece of furniture in its seating position covered with loose upholstery cover material which at one side is attached to the front underside of the seating frame and, at the other side, to the underside of the back rest whereby on the underside of the upholstery cover material a double layer of drill material is located which extends across the seating surface only, said upholstery cover material preferably being joined together with wadding and being attached to the front end of the seating surface.

[0004] Due to this arrangement, the drill material extends across the entire bed area formed by seat and back rest when the furniture is in the bed position, whereby the upholstery cover material is reversed during the conversion of the furniture into the seating position.

[0005] During normal seating on furniture with a back rest, 85% to 90% [of body weight] are transferred to the seat and only 10% to 15% onto the back rest. Therefore, the seat needs to be a lot more resilient than the back rest. When converting a seat into a bed by utilising the back rest, the result is a bed area with differing resilience. This, of course, is undesirable.

[0006] It is therefore a further object of the invention to provide a piece of furniture of the above-mentioned type which, despite differing resilience of seat area and back rest in the seating configuration, has an at least approximately equal resilience in the bed position.

[0007] This is achieved by placing below the upholstery cover material a layer of foam plastics, rubberised hair, coconut fibre or similar.

[0008] For a piece of furniture in terms of the invention, the seating area in the seating position becomes resilient due to the relatively resilient foam plastics. When converting it into the bed position, however, this layer is removed from the seating surface and placed onto the back rest which then serves as a bed surface. Thus, one surface (the original seating surface) becomes softer and the adjacent back rest surface firmer.

[0009] It is expedient for the layer and the furniture cover material to be sewn together at least at the ends.

[0010] In order to avoid the formation of folds, it is advantageous for the layer and the upholstery cover material to be joined with elastic material to the underside of the back rest.

[0011] If only the seat and the back rest are used as a bed area, the result is a bed area of only 150 cm in width. The sleeping person or persons then lie along the wall, they are ,,latitudinal sleepers”.

[0012] In order to provide access to both sides of the bed, the bed area has to be enlarged by at least one further element; then, the arrangement is a so-called ,,longitudinal sleeper”.

[0013] The invention has the further object to create such a longitudinal sleeper in a manner which allows the elements of a latitudinal sleeper to be used whereby the additional element can be attached easily. This is achieved for a piece of furniture of the above-mentioned type in that a further upholstered element is hinged to the rear side of the back rest whereby the hinge is located in the lower area of the back rest and the upholstered surface points to the rear when the piece of furniture is in its seating position.

[0014] For a piece of furniture of such a design, the further upholstered element is also swung around when the back rest is swung around and, thus, an adequate bed length is created which points away from the wall.

[0015] It is expedient if hinged legs are attached to the further upholstered element, which support it on the floor when in the bed position and which are connected via linkages with the back rest such that, when the further upholstered element is swung around, said legs will swing into the support position.

[0016] In the following, the invention is described in detail with the aid of the embodiment shown in the drawings without being limited to that particular embodiment. Shown are in:

[0017]FIG. 1 the partially sectioned side view of a piece of furniture in terms of the invention in the seating position;

[0018]FIG. 2 this piece of furniture in an intermediate position with opened storage for bedding;

[0019]FIG. 3 the piece of furniture in the bed position;

[0020]FIG. 4 the front edge of the seating frame with the added layer, shown in an enlarged scale compared to FIGS. 1 to 3;

[0021]FIG. 5 the area back rest—further upholstered element in an enlarged scale.

[0022] According to the drawings, a back rest 4 is attached to a seating frame 1 including a seating surface 2 via lateral arms 3 allowing the back rest to pivot. At the rear side of the back rest 4, a further upholstered element 5 is connected with pivot joints whereby the pivot joint 6 is located in the lower area of back rest 4.

[0023] On the upholstered element 5, legs 7 are connected to pivot joints with the ends 9 adjacent to bearing 8 having links 10 connected to it which in turn have a pivot joint on back rest 4.

[0024] On the seating surface 2, a layer 11 is placed which is attached at one side with a cross member 12 located at the lower front side of seating frame 1 and at the other side with a cross member 13 of back rest 4. It is advantageous to incorporate an elastic element into the connection, e.g. rubber laces. It would also be possible to create an elastic connection via an elastic foam plastics layer.

[0025] According to FIG. 4, layer 11 consists of a foam plastics layer 14 and an upholstery fabric placed on top whereby a lining material 16 can be placed between the foam plastics layer 14 and upholstery fabric 15. Below the foam plastics layer 14 in the area of the seating surface 2 only, there is a double layer 17 of drill material which can have wadding attached to it. At the reversal point 18 of the double layer 17, said layer is attached to seating surface 2, in particular by stitching.

[0026] If the piece of furniture is to be changed from the seating position shown in FIG. 1 to the bed position as per FIG. 3, the loop handle 19 of upholstered element 5 is pulled which swings back rest 4 into a new position. As can be seen in FIG. 5, further pulling of loop handle 19 towards the front results in a movement of a sprung plate 20 attached to the inside of back rest 4. That has the effect of disengaging a sliding pin 21, attached to sprung plate 20, from a sliding stop pin 22 located on upholstered element 5. Eventually, the intermediate position according to FIG. 2 is obtained. At the same time, a spring-loaded hook 23 attached to link 10 with a pivot joint snaps onto pin 24 and the angle between back rest 4 and upholstered element 5 is fixed.

[0027] In this position, access to the bedding storage space is available which is located behind back rest 4. No further handling operations are required which is another advantage of the invention.

[0028] After pulling the loop handle 19 further towards the front, back rest 4 as well as upholstered element 5 swing into the bed position shown in FIG. 3. During this unfolding operation, layer 11 is pulled along by back rest 4 and placed onto this back rest while being reversed. Thus, the previous seating surface 2, which has now become part of the bed surface, becomes softer and the back rest 4, which now forms the middle part of the bed surface, becomes firmer.

[0029] At the same time, the upper layer of double layer 17 is swung around reversal point 18 and placed onto foam plastics layer 14. The legs 7 swing around their bearing 8 and support upholstered element 5 on the floor.

[0030] For the purposes of converting the unit from the bed into the seating position, a pawl 25 is attached to spring-loaded hook 23 with a pivot point. Then, pin 24 moves towards pawl 25 which in turn swings against hook 23 and lifts it so that pin 24 can travel past.

[0031] The invention provides the opportunity the make a varied offer available to the consumer because the individual elements allow various configurations. Thus, the piece of furniture described above can be manufactured and used without the additional upholstered element 5 without the requirement for significant set-up changes on the production line. If an additional folding bed on rollers is used, which can be stored under seating frame 2 [sic], the application range of the piece of furniture in terms of the invention can be extended further. Without a folding bed on rollers, the bed in terms of the invention has clear space underneath, a characteristic much valued by users.

[0032] The possible use of the individual elements in various combinations also offers great advantages for marketing. As is well known, word of mouth is the best advertising and if one configuration is well received, then this assessment will also extend to other configurations.

SUMMARY

[0033] On seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed, the back rest (4) can be swung into the plane of the seating surface (2) with the aid of arms (3) whereby arms (3) at one end are connected by a pivot joint to a seating frame (1) and at the other end to the back rest (4).

[0034] In the seating position of the piece of furniture, the seating surface (2) is covered with a loose upholstery fabric (15) which at one side is attached to the front underside of the seating frame (1) and, at the other side, to the underside of the back rest (4). On the underside of the upholstery fabric (15), a double layer of drill material (17) is located which extends across the seating surface (2) only, which is preferably joined together with wadding and which is attached to the front end of the seating surface (2).

[0035] Thus, a simpler method is provided for placing drill material onto furniture.

[0036] (FIG. 4) 

1. A seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed where the back rest (4) of said seating furniture can be swung into the plane of the seating surface (2) with the aid of arms (3) whereby arms (3) at one end are connected by a pivot joint to a seating frame (1) and at the other end to the back rest (4), characterised in that in the seating position of the piece of furniture the seating surface (2) is covered with a loose upholstery fabric (15) which at one side is attached to the front underside of the seating frame (1) and, at the other side, to the underside of the back rest (4) whereby on the underside of the upholstery fabric (15) a double layer of drill material (17) is placed which extends across the seating surface (2) only, which is preferably joined together with wadding and which is attached to the front end of the seating surface (2).
 2. The seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed according to claim 1, characterised in that, below the upholstery fabric (15), a layer (14) comprising foam plastics, rubberised hair, coconut fibre or similar is placed.
 3. The seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed according to claims 1 and 2, characterised in that, at least at one end, layer (14) and upholstery fabric (15) are stitched together.
 4. The seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed according to claims 1 to 3, characterised in that layer (14) together with upholstery fabric (15) are attached to the underside of back rest (4) with the aid of an elastic element.
 5. A seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed where the back rest (4) of said seating furniture can be swung into the plane of the seating surface (2) with the aid of arms (3) whereby arms (3) at one end are connected by a pivot joint to a seating frame (1) and at the other end to the back rest (4), characterised in that, at the rear side of back rest (4), a further upholstered element (5) is connected with a pivot joint whereby said joint is located in the lower area of the back rest (4) and the upholstered surface points to the rear when the piece of furniture is in its seating position.
 6. The seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed according to claim 5, characterised in that legs (7) are connected to the further upholstered element (5) with pivot joints, said legs supporting said upholstered element on the floor when in the bed position and are connected to back rest (4) via arms (10) such that said legs swing into the support position when the further upholstered element (5) is swung out.
 7. The seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed according to claims 5 or 6, characterised in that, on the inside of back rest (4), a sprung plate (20) or similar is attached to which a sliding pin (21) is connected that engages with a sliding stop pin (22) located on the further upholstered element (5).
 8. The seating furniture allowing conversion into a bed according to one of the claims 5 to 7, characterised in that, on at least one of the arms (10), a hook (23) is attached with a pivot joint, said hook during the conversion operation snapping onto pin (24) which is located on back rest (4). 